Make room for light – genius lighting tips for your small apartment

Living in a small apartment doesn’t have to feel claustrophobic, because you can use lighting to make it seem brighter, more spacious and more welcoming! These tips will help you out:

Choose downlights over pendant lights

While pendant lights can be quite charming and romantic, they don’t exactly go hand in hand with small apartments, because they take up too much space and make the room seem cluttered. As an alternative for the ceiling, you can use downlights which provide great lighting, but take up no space at all. They usually come in simple, versatile designs, so you avoid the entire “matching the lights with the room style” debacle. For extra functionality, place downlights on areas of the ceiling that have imperfections to cover them up.

Replace traditional lampshades

Just like pendant lights, lampshades tend to take up a lot of space because they are big and bulky. In addition to that, traditional lampshades can fragment or dim the light. If you still want to use them for decorative purposes, switch to a minimal design. For example, you can use a copper wire lamp with an Edison style light bulb, or a transparent mesh lamp, which would flood the room with light.

Light up every corner

One of the biggest mistakes among owners of small apartments is that they light only a general area of the room and leave out many dark corners. To maximize space, you should light each and every inch of the room, including cupboards, kitchen counters and shelves. This will create the illusion of an open space and allow you to showcase more of your house.

Three sources of light per room

Except for the bathroom, for which one source of light is generally enough, all other rooms should have three sources of light:

General lighting: the main source of light in the room, which should also be the strongest, coming from the ceiling.

Specific lighting: a smaller light, focused on an area where you work. This can be an office lamp or a pendant light dangling above the kitchen table.

Ambient lighting: you can get this with sconces or candles placed around the room. This type of lighting is weak on its own, but it creates a cozy atmosphere, and, combined with the rest of the lights, creates the illusion of a bright space.

Invest in quality bulbs

Last, but not least, you cannot expect to have a bright apartment by means of cheap, low quality bulbs. After all, no matter how much you pay on fancy, minimal designer lights, bulbs are the most important thing and you shouldn’t make a compromise there. At the end of the day, instead of bathing in cozy, natural light, you will barely manage to read a book in an uncomfortable neon haze. Modern LED bulbs provide excellent natural light, helping you cut down on energy bills. Besides, they can last for years, so there is no reason not to invest in them for a beautifully lit apartment.